AlanHorkin: I couldn't agree more. And there are different levels of computer illiteracy as well. Just to take an example of something that I know something about, it used to be that most people who had a Ph.D. in quantum chemistry, computational materials science, or computational physics could actually write software, but this ability is harder and harder to find, as more Ph.D. theses are done using canned software. The reason that I bring up this (extremely narrow) example is that I think if the technically elite aren't fully literate, what does this say about problems with every day computer users?

Thank the god of your choice for things like LEGO Mindstorms that, by making programming fun, and by giving tangible benefits of that programming to everyday people, introduce many more people to programming than ever would otherwise see the insides of a piece of software.

Robocode over at IBM dev works has the same idea in a pure software approach. When my son is ten I'll probably look for something like this to teach him programming with.